Images and influence: the role of film in representing Johannesburg and shaping everyday practice in the city
Date
2015-05-27
Authors
Parker, Alexandra Mary
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Colonial and apartheid policies imposed a segregated urban form on Johannesburg and have
led to a limited and generally incoherent knowledge of the city across most segments of the
population. Representations of the city in cultural mediums including film allow residents to
cross boundaries and make conceptual and practical connections and are therefore important
in addressing past legacies.
Johannesburg’s moving image history is only ten years younger than the city and over this
time the representation of the city in film has provided insight into the nature of this urban
agglomeration. But the representation of the city in film has been inconsistent and erratic
and requires close analysis. It is important to understand the ways in which the city has been
represented and how it features in popular mediums of culture and also how it contributes to
the discourse of the city. There is very little understanding of how films are being received by
residents of the spaces and places depicted on the screen, and even less on how these films
influence the everyday practices of these residents.
This thesis draws on the idea of a ‘circuit of culture’ to explore both the representation of
the city through film, and the impact of this representation on urban practice. To structure
this analysis the thesis makes use of four lenses: materiality; identity; mobility; and crime. It
provides an analysis of films with Johannesburg as a major location that were produced and
screened after 1994. Surveys and interviews were conducted in four different locations in the
city, each of which have been the site of film production and have been distinctly
represented on the screen: Chiawelo; CBD; Fordsburg; and, Melville.
The study concludes that film can facilitate a greater understanding of the complex city for
the residents of Johannesburg but that there are nevertheless clear limitations to what film
can achieve. Films provide information and ‘accessibility’ to unknown spaces, encouraging
interaction with the city, through exploration, familiarity and comfort but film can also be a
conservative medium that reduces and typecasts complexity. Films often reinforce spatial
stereotypes but they can also produce a “resistant reading” that helps transgress spatial
boundaries.